New Delhi/Mumbai, March 14 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday is set to hear a plea challenging Goa governor Mridula Sinha's decision to invite the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form the government in the state.
The plea seeking urgent hearing will be mentioned before a bench led by Chief Justice J.S. Khehar at 10:30am on Tuesday.
Denied the first shot at government formation in Goa despite winning 17 seats in the 40-member Goa assembly, CLP leader Chandrakant Kavlekar moved the apex court, challenging the Goa governor's decision to appoint a BJP-led government in the coastal state.
The governor has called for swearing-in of the BJP-led government under chief minister-designate Manohar Parrikar at 5pm on Tuesday.
The SC, despite being on a week-long Holi vacation, agreed to an urgent hearing on Tuesday morning in view of swearing-in scheduled in the evening.
The Congress moved the plea a day after former Union defence minister and BJP leader Manohar Parrikar met the governor along with 22 legislators, and staked claim to form the next government in the coastal state. The BJP has won only 13 seats in Goa.
Parrikar resigned as Union minister after meeting the governor on 12 February.
On 12 March, the governor appointed Parrikar as the chief minister and asked him to prove a majority on the floor of the house within 15 days of swearing in. A press note issued by the governor's office said, "Shri Manohar Parrikar has submitted evidence before Honourable Governor, the support of 13 MLAs of BJP, 3 MLAs of Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, 3 MLAs of Goa Forward Party, and 2 Independent MLAs, thus having a total strength of 21 MLAs in the 40-member assembly".
Parrikar submitted a list of MLAs who had pledged to support the BJP-led government. Later, MGP MLA and leader Sudin Dhavalikar and GFP MLA Vijay Sardesai told reporters that they had decided to join the BJP-led government only because the BJP leadership had agreed to appoint Parrikar as the chief minister. Both MGP and GFP also stated that they were supporting the BJP-led government in Goa for stability and to maintain continuity of development in the state.
In Goa's 40-member assembly, the Congress has 17 seats, BJP 13, Maharashtravadi Gomantak Party (MGP) and Goa Forward Party (GFP) three seats each, independents three, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) one. Both MGP and GFP have pledged support to the BJP if Parrikar is instated as chief minister.
Parrikar was the chief minister of Goa from March 2012 to November 2014. The incumbent chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar's electoral defeat set the stage for Parrikar's return to state politics.
The newly-elected Congress legislators in Goa have also decided to meet the governor later on Tuesday to stake claim to form the government. The MLAs chose senior legislator Chandrakant Kavlekar as the new Congress Legislative Party leader on Monday after day-long deliberations.
The Congress petition makes two prayers-stay the swearing-in on Tuesday and strike down the Governor's decision to appoint Parrikar as the chief minister. The Congress petition says, "It is constrained to move this honourable court under Article 32 of the Constitution in grave urgency as the honourable governor vide her blatant unconstitutional action dated 12-03/2017 has invited BJP, a minority political party in the state, to form the government". The petition adds that the decision of the governor "is in the teeth of well-settled constitutional convention and propriety of as also the constitution bench judgements of this court" and the governor "could not have ignored the single largest party Congress with 17 seats".
Meanwhile, Congress functionaries in Goa, including some newly-elected legislators, have openly expressed their "frustration" with the way Congress affairs are being handled in Goa. Vishwajeet Rane, Congress legislator from Valpoi and son of Congress veteran and five-time Goa CM Pratap Sinh Rane, told reporters in Goa on Monday that "pressure was mounting on at least 6 MLAs to form a separate group". He also said that "at least 13 out of 17 MLAs are upset with the unwarranted delay in electing the CLP leader yesterday". Rane, however, clarified that he was not resigning from the Congress due to "his family's personal relationship with the Gandhi family" and that his father was not part of the group he was referring to.
A Goa Congress functionary, who did not wish to be named, said, "The delay almost gave one impression that the Congress leadership in Goa was hand-in glove with Parrikar and wanted to give him as much time as he needed to make the first move."